Seminole County Judge Jerri Collins’ decision to scold and sentence a domestic violence victim to three days in jail for failing to testify against her attacker is raising questions about whether she handled the situation appropriately.

Seminole County Judge Jerri Collins’ decision to scold and sentence a domestic violence victim to three days in jail for failing to testify against her attacker is raising questions about whether she handled the situation appropriately.

Seminole County Judge Jerri Collins, who ordered a crying domestic violence victim to jail in July because the woman refused to testify against her accused abuser, has agreed she behaved badly and should be punished.

In a plea deal with the state agency that polices judges, Collins has agreed to a public reprimand.

The incident happened in Collins' courtroom in Sanford July 30 but went public in October, when video of the six-minute hearing was broadcast by an Orlando television station.

It shows Collins, 54, of Longwood, berating the woman for defying a subpoena and failing to appear and testify against her accused abuser, the father of her 1-year-old child.

The woman told authorities that the man had choked her, came at her with a knife and pressed his thumbs against her eyes.

The case was ready for trial. The judge and attorneys had selected a jury, but the state's key witness – the woman – did not appear. An investigator was sent to her home to bring her to court, but she was not at the address.

Without a victim-witness, prosecutors dropped one charge against the defendant – that he was armed with a knife – and agreed to reduce another. He wound up sentenced to 16 days in jail for battery.

Prosecutors asked the judge to order the woman to court to explain why she should not be held in contempt for defying the subpoena.

She appeared July 30.

"Your Honor, I'm very sorry for not attending …," she told the judge. "I've been dealing with depression and a lot of personal anxiety since this happened. …"

Said Collins, "You think you're going to have anxiety now? You haven't even seen anxiety."

Handout

Seminole County Judge Jerri Collins

Seminole County Judge Jerri Collins

(Handout)

"You disobeyed a court order knowing that this was not going to turn out well for the state," the judge continued.

Collins ordered her to jail for three days.

Court paperwork released Thursday shows that on Nov. 20, the state agency that polices judges, the Judicial Qualifications Commission, found probable cause to charge Collins with violating several rules that govern how judges are supposed to behave.

She did not break the law, according to the JQC, and had a right to jail the woman, but the judge was also supposed to be patient, dignified and courteous.

She wasn't, the two sides agreed. She berated and belittled the woman, who had no lawyer to defend her, the JQC pointed out.

The court system also failed the woman, the JQC wrote, because no one told her she had a right to put on evidence or testify on her own behalf.

The JQC did not formally file charges against Collins until Wednesday, according to court paperwork, the same day she signed her plea deal.

In that paperwork Collins said she is now remorseful.

She did not return a phone call seeking comment.

The Florida Supreme Court will review the case and have final say on whether a public reprimand is the proper outcome.

Collins has been a Seminole County judge for 10 years. She was appointed by then-Gov. Jeb Bush. Before that, she worked as an assistant state attorney in Sanford.